STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - There are a number of key issues as Staten Islanders join the rest of New York City in choosing between Republican Joe Lhota and Democrat Bill de Blasio as the next mayor.

In an effort to have the voices of borough residents heard in the election, the Advance invited readers to send in questions as members of the newspaper's Editorial Board sat down for a meeting with Lhota on Monday.

Chief among the topics: Tolls, and what a mayor can do about controlling them; NYPD policy, including stop-and-frisk and whether Lhota would keep Ray Kelly as police commissioner, and new union contracts for city workers.

TOLLS

Lhota was the head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority when the toll on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge went up to $15. A number of readers wanted Lhota to explain how that happened, while one, Peggy Padovano, wanted to know what he could do in the future to control them.

LHOTA: "I was there when the rate went up. It didn't go up as much as originally projected because of what I did ... I realized when I went there the cards that I was dealt, the decisions that were made years before, that there would be this every-two-year increase ... It's gotta stop."

Lhota said that Islanders who use E-ZPass pay just $6 after their third trip across the span, and that the increase amounted to just 25 cents per round trip. He said he worked to keep the increase lower than originally planned.

When asked if there was anything he could have done to stop the toll
hikes, Lhota said: "We could have cut services, that would have been the
only alternative. But the decision on the fare increase was done in
2009. There was nothing that I could have done to prevent the toll and
fare increase except reduce the amount that was originally projected.
Could I have gotten it down to zero? It would have required that there
would have been service delivery cuts, and part of that would have meant
laying off workers. And to me, that wasn't what I wanted to do."

As for the future, Lhota said: "I realize it's going to be difficult to do, but I won't stop, and I'm going to make sure it's an issue in the governor's race next year, that the MTA should be required by the Legislature to relinquish the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority and give it back to the mayor and the Council."

He said that the $600 million in profit generated by the bridges and tunnels in the five boroughs could be used to lower tolls and fares.

LHOTA: "It's unfair to Staten Islanders. It's unfair to everybody in New York, but particularly Staten Islanders. You are on an island you cannot get off of."

Helen Holt-Vasquez was among those who wanted Lhota's take on stop-and-frisk and whether he would keep Ray Kelly as NYPD commissioner.

LHOTA: "Stop-and-frisk is a tool that's been used by police departments as far back as I can document ... Stop-and-frisk is a tool that needs to continue. We need, however, to make sure that police officers are trained, and re-trained. We also need to make sure that the community understands what (the police are) allowed to do."

"I do believe that if an officer racially profiles, stops someone solely because of the color of their skin, that officer, it's not just a reprimand, probably should end up being separated from service. It's a violation of federal law, state law and city law to racially profile."

Lhota also said he would continue the Bloomberg administration's attempt in court to overturn the Community Safety Act, which puts an NYPD monitor in place and reforms racial profiling laws.

LHOTA: "I think the inspector general (for the NYPD) is a complete and total waste of time and money."

On Ray Kelly, Lhota said: "I want Ray Kelly to stay as police commissioner. He hasn't decided to do that yet. I continue to talk to him about it. If Ray Kelly does not want to stay as police commissioner, I'd like him to be part of the transition team to help find the next police commissioner."

Lhota said he had no favorites when it came to choosing a new police commissioner, but said that the next commissioner would likely come from within the ranks of the NYPD or those recently retired.

He praised former Assistant Chief Pat Timlin, who ran the Compstat program, for driving down crime and improving community relations when he was commanding officer in the Bronx.

LHOTA: "I think Pat Timlini is somebody that I would look at to be a commissioner."

Also on Lhota's radar, he said: Current Chief of Department Phil Banks, who is African-American; First Deputy Commissioner Rafael Piniero, who would be the NYPD's first Hispanic commissioner, and former Chief of Department Joe Esposito.

CITY CONTRACTS

A number of readers, including Frank Scala and Daniel Cassella, president of ATU Local 726, wanted to know what Lhota would do about contracts for city workers.

Lhota said that coming to contract terms with city workers "is the single most important issue" facing the next mayor.

LHOTA: "Actually, I believe that the workers deserve a raise. Five years without a raise is too long.

"I don't want to wait until January 1 to begin this process. It has to start immediately after the election, sitting down with the unions, listening to them, listening to the mayor and the city's negotiators, and probably all of us having a drink and then getting back to the table on the same day. And basically saying let's create a roadmap.

"There is money in the budget for a fair wage increase going forward. There is no money in the budget for retroactive pay."

Lhota said that the Bloomberg administration had eliminated the labor reserve fund, used for retroactive pay, in order to balance the budget.

He said that retroactive pay would be "a $7.8 billion hit to the budget ... I don't think for a second that we should raise property taxes to make these payments. We're going to have to work with (the unions)."

LHOTA: "This is what's left for me and Bill de Blasio to deal with. And it's the reality. We don't have the money ... I recognize that this is the single most important issue that the mayor will have to deal with."